1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safe driving assisting apparatus, a safe driving assisting server, and a safe driving assisting system for assisting a vehicle driver in safely driving a vehicle, and more particularly to a safe driving assisting apparatus, a safe driving assisting server, and a safe driving assisting system for providing the vehicle driver with attention information to attract vehicle driver's attention when and where the vehicle driver is required to pay careful attention to driving.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up until now, there have been proposed a wide variety of conventional driving assisting apparatuses each of which notifies a vehicle driver of not only the current location of the vehicle but also attention information to attract vehicle driver's attention. The conventional driving assisting apparatus of this type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H09-14976 and shown in FIG. 8. The conventional driving assisting apparatus 700 is shown in FIG. 8 as comprising a storage unit 710, a Global Positioning System, hereinlater referred to as “GPS unit” 780, a control unit 750, and a display unit 730. The storage unit 710 is adapted to store therein a position where the vehicle driver is required to pay careful attention, hereinlater referred to as “attention position”. The storage unit 710 is operative to store therein as the attention position a dangerous location such as, for example, a sharp turn, a steep decent, a punishing road, or the like. The GPS unit 780 is adapted to obtain a current position of the vehicle. The display unit 730 is adapted to notify the vehicle driver of attention information to attract driver's attention. The control unit 750 is adapted to control the display unit 730 to have the display unit 730 notify the vehicle driver of the attention information when the vehicle approaches to the attention position. The conventional driving assisting apparatus 700 is operative to notify the vehicle driver of the attention information whenever the vehicle approaches to the attention position to assist the vehicle driver in safely driving the vehicle as long as the vehicle driver pays attention to driving by looking at the attention information displayed by the display unit 730.
The conventional driving assisting apparatus 700 thus constructed as previously mentioned, however, encounters a drawback that the vehicle driver tends to overlook or neglect the attention information although the display unit 730 notifies the vehicle driver of the attention information whenever the vehicle approaches to the attention position. The vehicle driver in general knows where he or she drives, and can anticipate when the vehicle approaches to the attention position such as, for example, a sharp turn, a steep decent, a punishing road, or the like. A traffic accident is prone to occur under an adverse driving condition such as, for example, night, snow, rain, or the like. The vehicle driver is required to pay careful attention to driving and focus on the attention information especially when and where driving under such an adverse driving condition. The fact that the vehicle driver tends to overlook or neglect the attention information is attributed to the fact that the conventional driving assisting apparatus 700 is operative to notify the vehicle driver of the attention information only when the vehicle approaches to the attention position without considering driving conditions under which the vehicle driver is driving the vehicle, thereby disregarding the driving conditions when and where the vehicle driver is required to pay careful attention to driving.